Vernon Davis: 49ers Leader Reaping the Benefits of a Rejuvenated Alex Smith

The maturation of Vernon Davis can be attributed to two different events in the tight end’s six-year professional career.

The first moment came in October of 2006. A dumb 15-yard penalty by Davis cost the 49ers dearly and after the game his head coach Mike Singletary had an infamous rant on the immaturity Davis was showing. It was embarrassing, but it proved to be an effective wake-up call.

Since then Davis has tempered his emotions and turned into the pro everybody assumed he would be when San Francisco selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft.

The second moment game the day Jim Harbough arrived in the Bay Area. He put all his chips to the middle of the table with QB Alex Smith and it turned out to be one of the greatest personnel decisions of the entire NFL season. Harbough’s unconditional support of Smith meant the world to the bewildered former No. 1 overall pick.

Smith is enjoying a career year in virtually every major statistical category and is fresh off an epic 299 yard, three TD performance in a win against the favored New Orleans Saints. His confidence continued to grow each and every week with every win. He threw for five interceptions this season, placing him 37^th among quarterbacks. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, all of them threw more interceptions.

Davis has been one of the players reaping the benefits of this sudden resurgence.

In 2011 he had 67 receptions for 792 yards and six TDs as Smith’s No. 1 option on most plays.  Smith is dropping back more often these days and is finally figuring out that Davis will have separation from his defender more often than not. In years past Smith never consistently took advantage of it.

Davis is the prototypical NFL tight end in 2012. He stands at 6’3’, 250 pounds and has incredible strength on top of the reliable hands and impressive speed he holds. There is no easy way to defend him. He’s faster than linebackers, bigger and stronger than corners.

He was Rob Gronkowski before Gronkowski. People tend to overlook Davis when discussing the best tight ends in the game because of the offensive woes of the 49ers since Davis entered the league in 2006. Now that Smith has finally figured it all out and the 9ers are enjoying their best season in over a decade, finally Davis is getting the credit he deserves.

After six years of waiting, I guess it’s better late than never.